Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Our university has two campuses. One is the "Main Campus" located in Tagbilaran, at the heart of the city, and the other is the "Dampas Campus" located in Dampas, a barangay (neighborhood) in the outskirts of Tagbilaran.

To be able to travel from campus to campus, our school has contracts with various multicab drivers to transport the students that have to travel between campuses to get to their classes.

The normal rate for passengers is 8PHP and, because of that contract, students only pay 7PHP. 1PHP difference isn't much, I know. But when you have to live off 500PHP for a month with school expenses like xerox copies and required materials, students do almost anything to save so the rule was welcomed by everyone. Well.... everyone except for some drivers.

12 passengers max sit at the back of the jeep and 1 or 2 in front. There were 13 passengers including 1 in the front seat. We all payed, obviously, since everyone had to pass their pay to the one sitting closest to the window separating the driver and the passengers at the back.

The driver kept insisting 5 more people didn't pay, which wasn't true since we all saw each other take out some money and hand it over to the passenger by the window. He stopped the ride numerous times, making most of us late, and kept insisting we pay up. A teacher that was with us ended up paying for "those who didn't pay" since we were all in a hurry.

Really. I understand the cost of living is high and work like that doesn't give you much but terrorizing a group of people who work just as hard to get a little extra money? Really? :I